For a dozen years, Sue Gandhi, a Vernon Hills resident since 1998, has run Sue’s Pantry in her townhome’s two-car garage.

So when she heard from her HOA, homeowners association, late last summer about operating the 501c3 pantry at her residence, Gandhi was “quite surprised and shocked.

“I received a legal notice in my email telling me I no longer can do this, that I need to cease and desist right away,” Gandhi said. “Actually, I wasn’t expecting it. I was heartbroken; it was awful.

A recipient holds a donated vegetable tray at Sue’s Pantry in Arlington Heights (5E College Drive) on Nov. 14, 2025. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

“My husband (Hasu) and I, we decided not to fight it, and we decided to find another place,” she said.

“He supported me really, I thought he might say, ‘Okay, Sue, this is it, you’re done,’ he didn’t, he’s like, ‘If you want to continue this, we will do this.’”

So Sue Gandhi found office space in Arlington Heights at 5E College Drive and reopened the pantry on Sept. 26.

The rental (paid by donations) is “a little bit bigger” than her Vernon Hills garage and has a back door accessible from the rear parking lot.

“This is really, really, really wonderful,” Gandhi said of the new address. “The stress is less, I don’t have to worry about somebody coming up and blocking someone’s car in the driveway, or a (Vernon Hills HOA) neighbor getting upset.”

Ghandi said she didn’t receive help from the HOA with her pantry’s move. She asked Pioneer Press not to contact the HOA or name the subdivision where she still resides.

“We have to stay on the right path and do the right thing,” Gandhi said.

Volunteer delivery driver Shara Fata of Deerfield waves goodbye from the parking lot at Sue’s Pantry in Arlington Heights (5E College Drive) on Nov. 14, 2025. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

But Bob and Carolyn Pinta, formerly of Buffalo Grove and now of Prairie View, immediately responded as they did in 2021. See https://www.chicagotribune.com/2021/04/19/buffalo-grove-woodworking-hobbyist-makes-donates-shelves-to-food-pantry-vernon-hills-resident-runs-out-of-her-garage/

The Pintas carried into Gandhi’s garage (on March 24, 2021) customized blue shelving made by Bob Pinta, a woodworker hobbyist.

For the Arlington Heights location, Bob Pinta reconfigured the shelves. Bob Pinta’s photo, taken in Arlington Heights with the updated shelving, was posted on social media on Sept. 12.

“We are so pleased to see Sue have a place outside of her home because she would literally serve the community constantly, and now may also get some rest, herself,” Bob and Carolyn Pinta said in a joint statement. “We were so very disappointed to hear about the way the HOA behaved.

“What Sue does for people should make them very proud,” the Pintas said. “We were so happy to see that the shelves fit her needs again with some adjustments.”

Left, from behind the door, the extended arm of Sue Gandhi of Vernon Hills helps to direct where boxes or other things are needed to be found. Seen is regular volunteer Rhonnie Bogenschutz of Mundelein, here to pick up food for a Libertyville agency. Seen at Sue’s Pantry in Arlington Heights (5E College Drive) on Nov. 14, 2025. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

Gandhi’s quiet pantry operation was publicly noticed earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic when Carolyn Pinta posted on social media about items humbly needed to stock Sue’s Pantry.

Since a Jan. 12, 2021, Pioneer Press story about Sue’s Pantry, awareness spiraled. NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt sent a news crew and (now retired) network correspondent Kevin Tibbles to Vernon Hills to publish their Jan. 26 story.

“I found something special taking place in Sue’s little garage,” Tibbles of Highland Park said to Pioneer Press on Nov. 18. “It was heaven-sent.”

The global attention spurred a sudden uptick in the amount to Sue’s Pantry 2018 GoFundMe page, catapulting funds (in the winter of 2021) from approximately $5,000 to nearly $70,000.

As of Nov. 18, 2025, $108,407 was raised of a $150K goal at https://www.gofundme.com/f/xpk7k-sue039s-pantry.

Still, on Nov. 14, 2025, there were no turkeys, trimmings, or full holiday meal donations for Thanksgiving, except for one piece of pumpkin cheesecake and a packaged half pumpkin pie.

“It would be very much appreciated if I did have turkey dinners available to distribute to my families so they could celebrate together and have a nice meal,” Gandhi said. “Everybody deserves that.”

“I would really love and appreciate having these meals for my families for Christmas,” she said. Her 2025 wish list (for the December holidays only) would be 200 donated meals.

Gandhi assembles gluten-free or allergy-sensitive groceries for families with special dietary needs.

Volunteer Gina Vera of Arlington Heights said about Gandhi, “She’s amazing, she’s sacrificed so much of her own life to help other people.”

Volunteer Gina Vera of Arlington Heights moves donations from the back of this car outside of Sue’s Pantry in Arlington Heights (5E College Drive) on Nov. 14, 2025. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

Gandhi is also aware that some clients remain fearful of leaving their homes due to ICE identification, so personal deliveries are necessary.

Volunteer Marianne Turnbull of Grayslake delivers groceries to Avon Township. Hunger in Lake County is, “getting worse, all over,” Turnbull said.

Volunteer delivery driver Shara Fata of Deerfield said Sue Gandhi is “an angel from heaven.”

Darlene Jones of Waukegan, family advocacy counselor (FAC) for Lake County’s Nicasa Behavioral Health Services, with its main branch in Round Lake, also delivers to North Chicago recipients. See https://nicasa.org/.

Loading a vehicle with donations is Darlene Jones of Waukegan, family advocacy counselor (FAC) for Lake County’s Nicasa Behavioral Health Services, outside of Sue’s Pantry in Arlington Heights (5E College Drive) on Nov. 14, 2025. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

“Sue has been an angel,” Jones said with a smile. “She’s just an angel.”

While Gandhi described the pantry’s mission on Nov. 14, within earshot, volunteers organized items while people dropped in to pick up groceries.

Regular volunteer Isabel Goldberg of Libertyville was suddenly taken aback as her composure produced tears.

Goldberg’s hope for the 2025 holidays is that “Everyone could let go of yesterday and let all the poor feelings and hard feelings disappear.

“Today’s a new day and every day is better and better,” Goldberg said. “And that’s my hope.”

Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/20/lake-countys-sues-pantry-moves-arlington-heights/